Wednesday, December 14, 2011

I was at White Fox Bead Studio the other day and the owner was working on a bracelet she was making out of the new peanut beads. I was struck by how the beads laid. So I bought some and started experimenting!

I cannot do CRAW with these beads! So I tried simple RAW; it worked! Then I added more rows. Still working!

I put this gray bit aside and went back to the pink beads. I decided to add more types of beads to add contrast to the look of the peanut beads. Here is what I came up with. A chunky flower!

Notice the gray leaves poking out from each side of the flower. This was the first part of my experimenting! I made leaves from the gray peanuts. I combined these leaves with the flowers by using sparkly crystal bicones.
I made several flowers and experimented with connections. Here is my first connection. It was too tight with too many beads! But I did like the look of it!

I ripped and re-beaded. Here is the next connection. I'm not certain I like it. There is too much space in the X meeting of the beads. I liked the first connection better!

I'll keep working on the connection for a while. I would like to make a necklace and possibly a bracelet using these chunky flowers! I'll post more photos when I'm done!! Happy beading!!!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

I took my first Kumihimi class on Saturday a week ago at White Fox Bead Studio. It was offered by the author of this book, Anne Dilker. The class was designed for beading students who wanted to learn how to use seed beads in Kumihimo. Anne works with BeadSmith and is a potter. She has developed many kumi techniques. I felt lucky to have had her as a teacher!

I chose two size 8/0 seed beads that were similar in color but with different finishes. One bead has a picasso finish while the second bead has more of a luster finish. We started with four strands of thread and added the beads on each end of the four strands. These strands were placed on the Kumihimo board and we began the weaving! It was lots of fun!!! Here is what my bracelet looked like.

When the weaving was done, we learned how to add the end caps to complete our bracelet.

Now all that was left was for me to let the end caps set for 24 hours and then add my closure. I chose a sterling silver ball hook closure, which made the bracelet a little too long for my wrist, but looks great! It'll make a nice gift for someone!

This was a wonderful learning experience! I would recommend this class or any class of Anne's to anyone. Her book is completely packed with information as are her Utube videos.

About Me

Hi! I am a beadweaver. Yes, one of those 'one tiny bead at a time' people! I love it! I did not start out as a beadweaver. I was a kindergarten teacher in my former life but fell into beadweaving when my family relocated. I started learning beadweaving techniques in August of '08. I quickly became engrossed with all the possibilities. I am continually looking for new techniques, while practicing and developing the ones I know. I love to create original works, especially, because they are very challenging and require a lot of thought and problem solving. Sometimes they start out as one idea and evolve into something quite different. Playing with beads...that's me!!!